University of Virginia Gang Rape Is Doubtful

Police in Charlottesville, Virginia have found no evidence to support the alleged gang rape in the University of Virginia. The story came out in 2014 in a Rolling Stone article. The article was over 9,000 words and was published on November 19. The story was about a victim named, “Jackie” in the article, was supposedly assaulted at a fraternity house party on September 28 2012. Phi Kappa Psi was the fraternity named in the article, and they were promptly suspended by the University of Virginia after the story came out. The story was also responsible for all Greek system events on the campus due to the outrage the story had caused.

There has been no evidence found to support the claims of a gang rape in the University of Virginia made by the November Rolling Stone article. The police questioned more than 70 people on the party and how the events of the night unfolded and compared that to the article. The fraternity went on record saying not only do none of the descriptions given in the article match any member of Phi Kappa Psi in 2012, but the fraternity maintains that they did not even throw a party on the night in question.

Rolling Stone has since issued an apology for the article, specifically stating that the article contained many discrepancies. They also apologized for not reaching out to the fraternity members for their side of the story. Columbia University is currently doing an investigation on the Rolling Stone story. They will be specifically looking at the reporting methods by Rolling Stone and fact checking their sources. They will release their report on April 8.

The fraternity has since been reinstated and Greek activities have resumed on the campus. University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan has announced that the school will be focusing on promoting new sober parties for fraternities and sororities in January. This will be just the first change in what will likely be a massive overhaul on campus rules for the college.

The victim, identified only as Jackie, was interviewed by the police to determine the validity of the Rolling Stone article. Jackie has claimed that there were two other instances of sexual assault from the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity one in 2009 and another in 2014. However, the police found no evidence to support these claims. The police also were not able to find any evidence to support Jackie’s own story of sexual assault. The police interviewed nine out of the 11 people who were members of the fraternity at the time of the alleged gang rape. All of the members denied any knowledge of the sexual assault or of having any kind of relationship with Jackie. The police also interviewed friends and roommates of Jackie.

The man who Jackie said was responsible for taking her to the University of Virginia party, where she was allegedly raped, was Haven Monahan. Police are now skeptical as to whether Monahan even existed in the first place. They can not seem to find any evidence of this person at all. It is entirely possible that Jackie was assaulted at the University of Virginia, but it would appear that her allegations of a gang rape at the fraternity is just not factual.